CREDIT: NAIMIES.COM
Lise Watier's Portfolio Corrector is an all-in-one complexion corrector that can fix many flaws.

One major concern for a lot of people is getting their skin to look as flawless as the celebrities or models in magazines, but sometimes foundation alone simply is not enough. There are many tips and tricks that can help camouflage and blur out certain imperfections by using certain colours, concealers, powders and primers.

Before you start with corrective makeup, you need to know the limitations of makeup; makeup is not magic and cannot fix everything. A lot of what you see in magazines is achieved by using photo-editing programs. For example, makeup cannot get rid of raised acne and scars (without layering a ton of makeup which ends up making the imperfection look worse).

One of the most common concerns in pigmentation flaws is redness; luckily this is something that is fairly easy to cover, depending on the severity. If you just have an overall redness to the complexion, the quickest and easiest way to get rid of it is by using a green primer by either Smashbox or Pur Minerals, which goes underneath your foundation. If you have some severe red spots on the face from either eczema or rosacea, you need to use a green concealer that is a bit thicker in consistency (Lise Watier, Gosh or Avéne). Once you apply the green concealer, put your foundation on top so that the redness is completely gone and your complexion is evened out. Lastly, if you just have minor redness in the complexion, you can dust yellow/green based powders over the face, which will tone down the redness (brands such as Clinique and Smashbox offer these products).

Another common issue is dark circles under the eyes, which is unfortunately a bit harder to correct. The products that are used to counteract the dark circles have a yellow tone to them. Once again, using a heavier consistency will most likely cover the darkest circles, but these products require a lot of blending so the concealer doesn't look caked on. The best brands to use to help cover under-eye circles are Cover FX and Smashbox as they are yellow-based concealers and are very pigmented.

Another complexion flaw that is not as common and is usually found in more mature skin is sallowness. If the skin is starting to look a little bit lacklustre or not radiant, the best colour for correction is purple. The easiest way to accomplish this is by using a purple primer that can go underneath the foundation as this will help bring a little bit more life back to the complexion. Another alternative you can use (but one that does not look good on everyone) is radiance powders that have a bit of shimmer to them, this as well will help give the skin its lustre back.

These are just a few very effective tips and tricks that help cover up minor skin imperfections. Test out a bunch of products and see which ones work best with your skin type; luckily not all corrective makeup is overly expensive. The most important thing to keep in mind is that makeup cannot fix everything, but it can definitely reduce skin pigmentation flaws.